Comparing Airlines During COVID-19: American, Delta, Southwest & United

travel has changed a lot within the last few months but just what that means depends largely on what airline you're actually flying with so we're putting the nation's four largest airlines to the test which airlines are blocking middle seats to give passengers more space in which arm how has inflight service changed what's changed with boarding these things and more all play a huge role in determining what your flight experience is actually going to be like so take along i flew american airlines out to washington dc and back home to minneapolis with delta a few weeks later i flew united out to denver and flew back to minneapolis on southwest each flight was about two hours give or take keep in mind your experience on each airline may look different depending on how long or short your flight is let's start with southwest where a lot has changed during the pandemic [Music] and it starts with an overhauled boarding process the mad dash to get on the plane and pick a seat has been replaced with a more orderly queue boarding just 10 at a time throughout the gate area there were reminders and markers to social distance though not every flyer followed them and the gate area was full of signage about southwest cleaning and safety measures from the seats to tray tables the plane looked and smelled almost brand new like delta southwest is capping ticket sales to make sure middle seats can remain empty unless you're traveling with companions they're doing this until at least december but what stood out the most on southwest was the constant reminders to wear masks spread out and stay safe i'll tell you what i'm impressed um southwest has done a lot to make people more comfortable they've completely overhauled their boarding process you know that the days of that kind of free-for-all to snag the best seat on the plane those are gone they board 10 at a time the biggest thing was just how much southwest reminded everyone on the plane to make sure they were wearing their mask make sure they weren't sitting next to strangers kind of made me feel like they were really paying closer attention to it than really any other area then there's american and honestly not much has changed when it comes time to get on the plane there were no social distancing markers at my gate and i never heard a gate agent remind travelers to give each other some extra space on the plane you might find yourself sitting next to a stranger unlike southwest and some other airlines american has decided to sell flights to capacity my flight was about 75 full so i paid a bit more for a seat at the front of the cabin and i lucked out no one sat next to me but that's no guarantee there's no question american is cleaning its planes more than ever before but the bathroom could have used some work between visits um the thing that really stood out about this flight was there was absolutely no service from the flight attendants they kind of sat um at the back of the plane for almost the entire flight um no water no kind of goodie bags with cleaning supplies or drinks or snacks or any of that that's going to be pretty typical for some of these shorter flights on american again my flight was only about two hours the changes continued with united united is now boarding planes from back to front in groups of four or five rows at a time but i didn't see many social distancing markers on the floor one big positive when it comes time to de-plane united actually calls out row by row to make sure travelers don't rush to the front of the plane but united is also selling flights to capacity so your odds of sitting next to a stranger or getting stuck in a middle seat are much much higher on these airlines your best bet is to fly on off-peak days like tuesdays or wednesdays and do what i did watch your seating chart like a hawk before your flight and swap to a seat where there's an empty seat next to you the plane was definitely clean but it was service where united shined the most united was the only airline i flew with still offering a full beverage cart service with a choice of coffee for my morning departure along with sealed soft drinks or water the flight was about 60 65 full united is doing a really great job with boarding and united is doing a lot more service than i've seen on other airlines they have kind of the standard beverage cart service on the short two-hour flight finally there was delta just like united delta is boarding planes from back to front now with social distancing markers in the line and reminders from gate agents to spread out and while every airline has definitely stepped up their cleaning delta really hammered home their cleaning procedures and i have to say the plane looked and smelled spotless delta is blocking middle seats all the way through early january 2021 so while my flight was technically sold out i had an empty seat next to me and for me that assurance is huge i really don't want to get stuck sitting next to a stranger you know the biggest difference i would say is just that delta does a lot more for service than certainly than america did as we walked on board we got kind of sanitizing wipes and then shortly after takeoff uh flight attendants came through the aisle with a baggie with water snacks um and some more cleaning supplies as well which was great so after flying all four major u.s airlines it's really obvious just how much every airline has changed things to make flying safer to make flyers feel safer but it's also just as obvious that some airlines have done a lot more than others at the top of that list it's gotta be delta and southwest they're the only two that are capping ticket sales or making sure that everyone has a little more space on board they've overhauled their boarding processes and also found creative ways to continue giving people some service something to drink something to eat without having too many passenger touch points after that um you know i would probably say united you know they have done a lot for the boarding process they board from back to front they've also really done more than than any other airline to make sure the deep leaning process is more orderly than it typically is and finally i would probably put american while there's no denying that american has changed a lot cleaning more than ever just like every other airline they've also probably changed the lease the boarding process has really not changed since pre-covet and while they've started to add some service back on their shorter domestic flights they also do less for service for serving drinks and snacks than at least what i received on any of the other three competing airlines if you have any questions about flying drop them in the comments below and if you found this video helpful make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our youtube channel as always if you want more help to spend less and travel more make sure to head to thriftytraveler.com cheers to cheap flights you

Channel: Thrifty Traveler

Views: 159,600

Rating: 4.8558478 out of 5

Keywords: Airlines During COVID-19, Flying During Pandemic, Comparing airlines during covid-19, pandemic travel, pandemic flying, thrifty traveler, travel blogger, american airlines covid, delta covid, united covid, southwest covid, american airlines, delta airlines, united airlines, southwest airlines

Id: DnFHTs16d0U

Length: 7min 8sec (428 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2020